In holographic data storage digital data are stored by recording the interference pattern produced by the superposition of two coherent laser beams. One advantage of holographic data storage is the possibility to store multiple data in the same volume, e.g. by changing the angle between the two beams or the wavelength, by using phase-coded reference beams, etc. To reliably retrieve the information, the physical properties of the holographic storage system during readout have to be the same as during recording. This means that the reference beam needs to have the same wavelength, the same wavefront error, the same beam profile, the same phase code if phase coding multiplexing is used, etc. Furthermore, the hologram has to be illuminated under the same angle and at the same position. For a precise controlling of the necessary focusing and tracking servo it is advantageous to have a servo layer as an additional layer underneath the holographic material of a holographic recording medium.
In EP1310952 Horimai et al. disclose the concept of having a substrate similar to a DVD (Digital Versatile Disk) as a guiding structure underneath the holographic material of a holographic disk medium. In this case a servo light beam is focused onto the holographic disk medium with the same objective lens as the holographic beam, i.e. the light beam used for holographic recording or readout. When the holographic and the servo beams are fixed relatively to each other, the servo beam can act as a reference for the beam used for holographic recording. The servo beam is focused onto the guiding structure, whereas the holographic beam is focused as appropriate for the chosen holographic recording process. Though this approach facilitates the retrieval of recorded holograms, a disadvantage is that the guiding structure of the servo layer interferes with the light used for recording or reading the holograms. Therefore, this layer has to be separated from the hologram layer with a dichroic mirror and a so-called flattening layer. This makes manufacturing of the holographic disk medium complicated and, therefore, expensive.